Scars and Pizza
by Silverado17
Summary: This is set post-movie. It's set around a girl named Serena, who happens to be Priestly's sister. What happens when she stumbles upon Beach City Grill and gets a job there while Priestly's on break? Read to find out! Warning for mention of past rape. Other, more specific warnings are inside. I apologize if any of the characters are OOC. I've never tried to write any of them before.
1. Family Reunion

_**AN: So, if you're reading my Supernatural stuff, I know I'm supposed to be working on another story – and I am – but this just popped into my head and I had to write it. Anyway, like I said, this story kind of just popped into my head and I thought, hey, why don't I write this down and post it? So here it is. And let me just say I absolutely LOVE Ten Inch Hero. I can't count how many times I've watched it. Everything about it is just so amazing! Keep in mind, though. I've never written Priestly before and he's kind of a main character here, so if he's a little OOC I apologize.**_

 _ **Warnings: Possible language, mentions of past rape, mentions of past loss of a baby, brief mention of family drama (I do believe that deserves a warning), and I think that should be it.**_

 _ **Disclaimer: I think it should be obvious, but I don't own most of these incredible characters. Sucks for me. The quote isn't mine either. Bummer.**_

* * *

 _"Show me your scars," he said._

 _"But… Why?" she asked quizzically._

 _"I want to see how many times you needed me and I wasn't there," he whispered, a tear rolling down his cheek._

* * *

"Nope," stated the man behind the counter, whose name-tag said his name was Tyler.

"What do you mean, 'nope'? All I asked for was an application," Serena protested.

"I'm aware of that, but we have a policy against strange things… like blue hair. Come back when it goes back to whatever color it was when you were born."

Frustrated, Serena left the fifth place she'd been to in the last two days. Apparently dying her hair was going to have more of an impact than she'd planned. If she'd known it would keep that many people from hiring her, she wouldn't have done it. She had predicted that it would turn some businesses away, but not on this large of a scale.

Life was just frustrating right now. That was the only word Serena would allow herself to use. She'd been job searching for the last month, slowly working her way through each and every town she came to. So far, either she was genuinely unqualified for any of the job openings, or they had company policies against individuality. The big problem was that she was running out of money. She didn't have much of a place to stay – she had camped out in a motel room – and if she didn't find a job in this town soon she would have to move on. There are only so many opportunities in one town.

That was when she saw it. That beautiful, blessed sign. 'Help Wanted: "Normal" people need not apply.' She barely took the time to register what kind of place she was walking into – a Beach City Grill – before she was going in the door. "Who's in charge?" she asked.

"That would be me," said a guy who appeared to be in his fifties.

"I want a job," Serena stated. "What do I do?"

"Well, there's a brief interview," he said.

"Fire away," Serena answered.

"Name?"

"Serena, yours?"

"Trucker. Elvis: dead or alive?"

Serena had to smile at that. Her brother had a pretty solid argument on that one, and for his sake alone, she answered, "Alive."

"Alright, you pass. Now we take a vote."

"Wait a second," said a girl with blonde hair pulled back. Serena was pretty sure she worked there. "Everyone isn't in here."

"Well that's his fault," Trucker said. "All in favor of hiring Serena…?" Everyone's hand went up – even two of the customers voted. "Congratulations, you got the job," Trucker said. He then proceeded to introduce Serena to everyone, going from Jen to Piper to Tish, and finishing with the two customers who had voted, whose names were apparently Mr. Julius and Lucille. "We have another employee, but he's on break right now," Trucker said.

"Cool," Serena said, not sure what else to say. It was at that moment that the other employee walked in.

"I'm back," he called out, almost like he was coming home instead of back to work. That wasn't what got Serena's attention though. She was focusing on the fact that this was… her brother.

"Holy crap!" she yelled before she could hold it back.

* * *

Priestly had gone out back to have a conversation with Zo in private. She'd called, it turned out, to ask him for advice about what to get Trucker for his birthday. Honestly, Priestly thought it was the weirdest thing. Not only was it out of character for Zo to do that type of thing, but it was also a little odd for her to ask him instead of someone else, but he just went with it.

When he got back inside, he announced his arrival. He had not expected to hear someone yell, "Holy crap!" in a very familiar voice. He quickly looked in the direction it had come from, and he couldn't have been more shocked. There, looking like she was in the middle of tying an apron around her waist, was Serena, his sister. With blue hair. He'd never seen her with blue hair. Or anything weird going on with her hair at all. She'd always had a bold personality, and that had been enough. She'd never really gone for the crazy appearances like he did himself. The point, though, was that the sister he hadn't seen in _years_ was standing a few feet away from him.

"Serena, what are you doing here?" he found himself asking. "No, don't answer that," he said immediately. "That was a stupid question. Let me start over." Instead of saying anything, though, he walked forward and wrapped his arms around her. He had missed her so much, and seeing her again made him want nothing more than to hold her. Besides, Serena had always been a hugger. Which was why Priestly was shocked when Serena tensed up immediately when he touched her. He was about to pull away to check on that when she relaxed into his arms and hugged him back. He decided then that he could ask about it later.

Serena had not expected her brother to walk in the doors of the little restaurant that was now home to her new job, and he apparently hadn't expected to find her there. Serena should have expected the hug, though. She didn't quite see it coming, though, so when she felt the arms of a man wrap around her, she had to force herself not to panic. After she reminded herself it was just her brother, who would probably rather die than hurt her, it was easy to be comfortable in the embrace.

"You two know each other, I take it?" asked Tish, a little unsure why her boyfriend had his arms wrapped around some girl who looked like she couldn't be too far past being a teenager. She wasn't quite at the point of jealousy yet, though.

"Yeah, she's my sister," Priestly answered, letting go of Serena but still keeping a hand on her shoulder. Serena didn't even mind. They were both thinking it had been too long. "Listen, Trucker, do you mind if we have some time? There are a lot of things we need to catch up on."

"Sure, take all the time you need," Trucker said. He wanted to know why two people who seemed to care about each other so much seemed to have not seen each other in a long time, but he was sure he could get answers later.

As soon as the two were out the door, Jen said, mostly to herself, "Should have known…"

"Should have known what?" asked Piper.

"That Priestly's sister would have blue hair," Jen answered.

* * *

"So, what brings you to Santa Cruz?" Priestly asked once they had sat down at a picnic table on the beach.

"I just kinda wound up here, I guess," said Serena, unsure how she should go about explaining the train wreck that had been her life the past several months. "What about you?" she asked.

"I guess it's kinda like you said," Priestly said. "Although, when I was in high school I didn't make the brilliant grades and I didn't have an eidetic memory, so there was no chance of a scholarship, and after Mom and Dad essentially disowned me there was no way for me to get into college…" Serena gave him an accusing look, so he hurried to add, "I'm not judging you or anything like that. I'm just wondering why you, a genius at the age of 19, just got a job at a sandwich shop. God, that didn't sound good either. I'm trying to ask what happened to you, because I know something did, because I know you."

Serena smiled at him softly. "You really want to know? I should warn you, I know for a fact you won't like what you hear."

"I'm sure I won't, but I still want to know, if you don't mind talking about it," Priestly said.

"Well," Serena started, the smile no longer present on her features, "I'll start with when you turned 18. After Mom and Dad just up and left you, dragging me along, I realized they weren't everything I'd made them out to be in my head. You always said they were selfish and uncaring, but I never really saw that because I was too busy convincing myself I had the best parents in the world. Life always seems better when you create false realities in your head, until they get ripped apart of course...

"Anyway, after that I decided I was leaving as soon as I turned eighteen. Screw them, right? Well, I did leave. I applied for dozens of scholarships and got a full ride offer at a college in northern California. So I went three states away in the used car Mom and Dad bought me for my 16th birthday. The first year of college went great. I had beautiful grades and I wasn't even getting stressed about the whole being in college on my own thing. The only thing I was really having trouble with was finding you. I'd been trying to do that since we left and lost touch with you. Of course, I was 13 when I last saw you, so there wasn't much I could do about it at the time…

"Anyway, other than not having a clue where you were, life was going pretty normal. It was my first semester of my second year of college when everything fell apart. It started in September. I had a night class that started at 8. My usual parking lot was full, so I went to a different one that was a little farther from the building. It was full, so I figured it must be safe. The thing is, an hour and a half later, it was empty. Apparently, the people who had been parked there got out of class shortly after mine started. I knew it wasn't the safest thing, to be in a dark parking lot alone at night, but there wasn't much I could do about that. So I took my keys out so I'd be ready to get in my car when I got to it, and I could also use them as a weapon if worst came to worst. I tried to be aware, but this guy came up behind me without me hearing. Before I knew what was happening, a handkerchief was over my face and I was inhaling what I think might have been chloroform.

"When I woke up again, I was in an alley. Cliché, right? Well, putting that aside, the guy was on top of me, and it was kind of a delayed reaction I guess, but I realized eventually that my pants and my panties were gone and my shirt was ripped down the middle, and the guy wasn't just on top of me…" Serena stopped to take a breath, trying to keep herself from crying. She could do this. It had been months. She should be able to handle this, shouldn't she?

Priestly, meanwhile, was just trying to keep his cool. Somebody had touched his sister without her permission and he was far from ok with that.

"Anyway, I passed out sometime after that, before he was even done. I'm glad I did though. It's a relief not to have had to live through the whole thing. Apparently, when I didn't show up at my dorm, my roommate called campus police and convinced them to go looking for me, although I'm not sure how. I mean, I was a college student who was a few hours late, not some 5 year old who had last been seen climbing into a white van. However she did it, I woke up in a hospital and found out later that two police officers had brought me in. They asked if I had any family I'd like to contact, and I thought of you, but I didn't know how to find you, so I just said no.

"When I got out of the hospital after about a week, I felt like I was ready to go back to class. I had to, really, or at least I told myself as much. I knew if I didn't keep my grades up, my scholarship was out the window. So I went back to class, and as long as none of the guys got too close to me I did ok. I was doing a lot better after all this, a lot better than I ever would have expected anyway. I mean, I had some killer nightmares, and I still do sometimes to tell you the truth. And if a guy did got too close to me I would come pretty close to having a panic attack. And I was having trouble paying attention in class. But I told myself I was doing fine. I couldn't risk the alternative.

"In late October, I started feeling sick, so I went to the doctor and found out I was pregnant. That was hard to get used to. I mean, I didn't know whether to be excited about carrying a life inside of me and being a mommy, or whether to be appalled that some rapist put his child inside of me. I decided to figure it out later. I wasn't planning on telling anyone about the baby – not that I had any friends the way school took up all my time. So no one except the doctors ever knew I was pregnant.

"Then, as if things weren't bad enough, in early November some idiot ran a stop sign and plowed his pick-up into my car. I made it out ok, but Charlie didn't. Charlie was the baby. I still don't know if it was a boy or a girl. I had always like the name Charlie, though, and Charlie can be a boy or a girl, so I named the baby Charlie. And the baby died. According to the doctors, I'll never be able to get pregnant again. It wasn't a hit and run though, so they caught the truck driver, unlike the rapist, who is still out there. Nobody even knows what he looked like because he was wearing a mask. I got lucky though, because I didn't get any STDs, right?" At that point, Serena had to stop. She'd held it all together until now, but she couldn't anymore. Two rivers were making their ways down her cheeks as she silently shook. Priestly just held her, letting her tears soak his T-shirt. He really didn't know what to say. He'd just had a bombshell dropped on him. He knew he should have some kind of helpful, all-knowing statement he could make, but he was at a loss. His sister had been hurt in the worst way possible, she'd gotten pregnant because of it, and had in turn lost the baby.

After an amount of time unknown to either one of them, Serena collected herself again and picked up with her story. "Anyway, I never could force myself to go back to school after that, so my scholarship is nonexistent now. I didn't leave campus until I knew for sure though. But anyway, my car was totaled, so I got all my money together and left on a bus. The first thing I did, if you can believe it, was dye my hair. My world felt like it was coming undone, and all I really wanted was to see you, not to guilt you or anything. I mean, none of this was even slightly your fault. But anyway, since I couldn't see you, I decided to do something to remind myself of you, so I dyed my hair blue. Of course, I didn't realize that would cause as much trouble as it did. I must have been through about 5 different towns trying to find a decent job that would allow me to keep my hair as it is before I finally came here. I thought about just letting my hair go back natural, but then I decided that I was too stubborn for that, and I'm so glad I did. You don't know how happy I am that I found you. Even if I wasn't trying to at the moment. So, yeah, that's about it."

"Look, Serena, I'm so sorry about what happened to you."

"It's ok."

"No, it's not. But it's going to be, because now you got me," Priestly said with a squeeze to her shoulder.

"Right, so how's life treating you these days? Got a girlfriend or anything?"

"Yeah, I do actually. The girl in there named Tish – she's mine. She just moved in with me a month ago. We've been dating for… six months now I think."

"That's good, I'm happy for you," Serena said with a grin.

"By the way," Priestly said, "where are you planning on spending the night?"

"Well, I checked into a motel yesterday. It's actually not bad. I was planning on buying a more permanent place after I got some more money," Serena said.

"Well, listen, why don't you move in with me and Tish? There's a spare bedroom. I know I'd feel better if you did," Priestly said. He wasn't comfortable with his sister being alone. Not only was she slightly more in danger, but she had been alone for far too long, it seemed. Plus, there was the part where Priestly missed his sister.

"You're sure you don't mind?" asked Serena, who really did want with all she had to move in with her brother. "You don't think Tish will mind either?"

"Of course not. How about after work we get all your stuff over there?"

"Sounds good," Serena said.

When the two returned to the restaurant, they hadn't missed anything. The help wanted sign was gone, but that was the only real change that had taken place. Apparently, Jen had taken over cooking in Priestly's absence. "You two get caught up?" Trucker asked.

"Yeah," Priestly said. "All caught up." He looked over to Tish and, seeing she wasn't occupied, he pulled her aside. In a lowered tone, he said, "Hey, my sister, she's been through a rough patch lately and I invited her to move into our guest bedroom. That's cool with you, right?"

"Well, of course," Tish said.

"Great," Priestly said.

"Hey, it's Serena, right?" Tish said, walking over to the younger girl.

"Yeah, and you're Tish?"

"Yep. Priestly told me you were moving in with us, and I just wanted to tell you I'm looking forward to it. It'll be nice to have another girl in the house. And just in case you're ever interested, I'm all for some girl talk."

Serena had to smile. She liked this girl her brother was dating. "Sounds good to me," she said, although she wasn't sure when she would be ready to open up to this girl who, for now, was a stranger.

"Can I come too?" Priestly asked.

"No," came the immediate response.

"Oh, come on," Priestly said. "You can't do stuff in my apartment and not include me."

"Fine," Tish said. "If you want to hear all about which products are better to control the flow—"

"Enough," Priestly said, making a disgusted face. "Point taken. Just have fun without me."

* * *

 _ **AN: Two more chapters and then we're done! Yay! Leave a review if you have a couple of seconds!  
**_


	2. Pleasant Surprise

_**AN: Second to last chapter! Now we get to see Serena interacting a little more with the other people in the grill and not just Priestly for most of it. Yay! And I think I'm going to go ahead and post the next chapter of this so I can focus completely on the Supernatural story I'm trying to write.**_

* * *

Life got pretty routine for Serena, and she was far from complaining. She kept her hair blue, deciding that she liked it like that even now that she had her brother back. She wasn't going to get any facial piercings or start styling her hair in a Mohawk, but she liked the color. She found herself getting comfortable with her coworkers, although she felt they deserved a more intimate title at this point. They were at least friends, if not family, and she was more than ok with that. She had always been close to Priestly (she did call him Priestly, even though it was her last name as well. She knew his first name, but also knew he didn't care for it so she had always called him what everybody else except their parents ever called him), and although they hadn't seen each other in years, it wasn't hard for their relationship to be as strong as it once was, if not more so. Serena found herself getting particularly close to Tish, as they shared the same apartment now. Not to say she wasn't friends with Piper and Jen as well; she just wasn't as close to them. Then there was Trucker. For whatever reason, she found herself getting comfortable with him quickly. It was one thing to be comfortable with her brother, but to be comfortable with a man she'd known for such a short time was rare for her these days.

Serena still hadn't told anyone other than Priestly about what had happened to her so many months ago, and at her request he hadn't breathed a word either. The way things were currently going, though, Serena was sure it was only a matter of time before she told everyone. There were some days when she came pretty close, too.

* * *

It was springtime, and the weather was finally warm enough to make a trip to the beach, so all the girls from Beach City Grill were going over there together on a Saturday. Priestly had declined for whatever reason, and Trucker had a previous engagement – with Zo, of course.

Serena put on the only swimsuit she had (she didn't even know why she had it to be honest), and it was a bikini, of course. She couldn't help but feel extremely self-conscious. She had been careful about what she wore ever since the attack. It had never really been hot enough to wear shorts, but she was sure that if it had been, she wouldn't have worn them. And now she was in a bikini and about to go out in public in it. She wasn't sure if she wanted to do that. Maybe she could just wear some kind of dress and be done with it. They had all planned to swim together, though. She wasn't even going to think about swimming in a dress. Maybe she could fake her period. Then again, her period had just ended two weeks ago, and everyone knew it. It was never hard to tell when Serena was on her period, if you knew what to look for. And you can swim in a tampon. Then there was a knock on her door. "Who is it?" she asked.

"Me," said Tish.

"Come on in," Serena replied. She wasn't sure she would have let her brother in.

"Looking good, girl," said Tish. She was pretty sure she had never seen Serena show half as much skin as she currently was. For some reason, after she said that, Serena looked down. She didn't look flattered at the compliment. "What's the matter?" she asked.

"Nothing, it's just… I… Well, I guess I'm kind of self-conscious. I'm not sure how comfortable I am in a bikini. I mean, it's kind of revealing don't you think?" Serena sighed internally. She sounded like such a virgin. Of course, she'd never actually done 'it' consensually. She'd never gotten around to it in high school, and the risk of losing her scholarship if she lost focus stopped her in college, and now, well, she was too scared of being so exposed. So she kind of wished she was a virgin.

"Honey, there is nothing wrong with what you're wearing. As far as bikinis go, that one's pretty modest," Tish said. She somehow recognized this as the delicate situation it was and refrained from trying to pressure the girl – she just wanted to reassure her. "I can understand being self-conscious, though. You look gorgeous in it, of course." Tish didn't know, but that was actually sort of what Serena was afraid of. "Just out of curiosity, is that the only bathing suit you've got?"

"Yeah," Serena said, still not fully convinced that she was comfortable wearing this.

"Well, if it would make you feel more comfortable, I have a tankini with bottoms that are almost shorts if you want to borrow that. it looks like we're about the same size."

"That would be incredible," Serena said, relieved. She would still feel better in not a swimsuit, but she was pretty sure this was the best alternative.

"Ok, well I think I might actually have two, so why don't you come with me and I'll let you pick which one."

"Where's Priestly?" Serena asked right before she opened the door to her room. She wasn't sure she was comfortable with even her brother seeing her in a bikini.

"I don't know. I think he might be watching TV," Tish said. "Why? Do you not want him seeing you in the bikini either?"

"Not especially," Serena confessed.

"If you want, I can double check," Tish suggested.

"No," Serena said. "Thanks, though." She was being irrational, really, and she knew it. She had absolutely nothing to fear in her brother. She walked out the door and crossed the hallway to the room Tish and Priestly shared. She did notice that the TV was on and it appeared her brother was on the couch. When she turned around to ask Tish where exactly the two bathing suits were, she saw a concerned look on Tish's face. "What?" she asked.

"There's a scar on your back…" Tish said. "I was just wondering where it came from."

Serena froze. The man who'd attacked her had put that there with the knife he'd used to threaten her. She had another scar on one of her breasts and another on one of her hips. She'd seen them in the mirror a few times and knew where they came from, but she hadn't remembered getting them. She'd never shown them to anyone else, and she hadn't even told Priestly about them. That was why she was caught off guard by the question. "It's just a scar," Serena said.

Tish must have noticed the effect her question had because she didn't push. "Sorry," she said. "I probably shouldn't have asked. I was just a little curious. Now, those two swimsuits are right here in the closet," she said, going over to the closet and taking them out. She held them up for Serena to see. "And of course, if you want to you can mix and match."

Serena looked at them. She chose the one in Tish's left hand. It was a little more modest, and she was a little less uncomfortable with it. "I'll take that one," she said.

"Alright. I want to see you once you get it on," Tish said.

"Oh, hey, am I interrupting something?" Priestly said from where he'd entered through the opened doorway.

"Nope, just trying on bathing suits," Tish said. "What are you doing in here?"

"Well, it's my room for one thing, and I need to piss."

"Go ahead, then," said Tish.

"Thank you so much for granting me permission," Priestly said. As he walked by his sister, he noticed the scar on her back. It was long, going almost horizontally across most of her mid back. He somehow knew where it came from, and he had to fight to keep from bringing attention to it. He felt anger at the man who had hurt his sister rising within him once again and quickly made his way into the bathroom that was connected to his bedroom.

Once Serena had the bathing suit on, she stepped out of her room to find Tish waiting for her. "Looks good," she said enthusiastically. "Is it a winner?"

"Yeah, I think so," Serena said.

"Alright. Well, put something on over it and then I guess we'll be ready to go," Tish said. Serena did and then the two left to meet the other two girls at the beach. It was the most fun Serena had had in a while, but she spent a lot of the time wondering if maybe she should finally open up and tell everyone what had happened to her.

After several hours spent in the warm sun, going back and forth between the ocean and the sand, they all decided it was time to get some food. Tish suggested getting some pizza to-go and taking it to their place, and they all agreed. As they walked in that direction, Piper said, "I have something I need to share. I've been working up to it all day."

"Ok, spill," said Tish, looking a little excited.

"Well, I think Noah might be getting ready to propose to me. I'm not sure, so don't tell anyone. Well, you can tell Priestly and Trucker, but not anyone else."

"Wait, wait, wait," said Jen. "What makes you think this?"

"Well, yesterday, I was hanging out at his house for a little bit with him and Julia. Sometime after Julia had gone to sleep, I left the room to use the bathroom. I was trying to be quiet, you know, so I didn't wake up Julia, so I guess he didn't hear me coming. When I got back into the living room, he kind of jumped when he realized I was in there, and then he hid something in his pocket. I never saw what it was and it looked small. Then I remembered that earlier in the week, I got to his house a little early for a date we had planned. When I knocked on the door there was a pretty long pause before Julia finally opened it, and she hugged me tighter than she ever had and she looked really excited. When I asked her what was up, she just said, 'you'll see.' I don't know. I just feel like he's getting ready to ask me to marry him and he's already gotten the ring and his daughter's approval."

"So what are you gonna say?" asked Jen.

"Well, I'm thinking yes," said Piper.

"Yeah, I agree," said Tish. "You should say yes."

"Definitely," Jen said.

"What about you, Serena?" Piper asked. "What do you think?"

"Yes," Serena said.

"Well then it's settled," Piper said with a smile. She was glad she'd gotten some input out of Serena. Despite the girl's hair and her brother, she was pretty shy. She seemed to have gotten more and more comfortable with all of them, though, and Piper was glad for it.

After they got to the apartment, they all fell behind, putting Serena in the lead. She didn't seem to notice, though. She opened the door and was greeted with a table set up in the middle of the room with a cake in the middle of it. Hanging from the ceiling was a sign that said, 'Happy Birthday!' and there were several presents below the table. To the left of the cake was a vase with a bouquet of flowers inside it. Standing behind the table were Priestly and Trucker, both of them grinning. Serena's first, second, and third thoughts were of surprise. The first was: it's my birthday, isn't it? The second was: my brother remembered my birthday when I didn't. The third was: hey, it's a surprise party for me.

Serena found herself grinning. "Thanks guys," she said. "To tell you the truth, I forgot it was my birthday today, so this is more of a surprise than you think. This is great though." It wasn't long before she was hugging everyone. First Priestly, then Tish, then Piper, Jen, and lastly Trucker. "Hey, I thought you had a thing with Zo?" she asked him.

"I did, and to be honest I didn't think I was going to be able to make it to this. We planned our date before Priestly ever told me this was your birthday. Zo got sick, though, so I decided to come on over here," he explained.

"Oh, I see, so I'm your second choice," Serena said jokingly.

"Why on earth would you think a thing like that?" Trucker responded, smiling.

"Thanks so much, everyone," Serena said to the whole group.

"Alright, alright," Priestly said, "let's not have some long speech. It's not like it's a wedding. It's just your 20th birthday. Next year, maybe we can do speeches, but not this year. Let's get on with the cake!"

"I think not," said Piper. "I say we do gifts first, I want to see everything Serena got."

"I agree with Piper," Serena said.

"Fine," said Priestly, eying the cake. "But open what I gave you first."

"Hand it over," Serena said, accepting the gift her brother passed to her. It was in a decorative box, and Serena shook it, trying to figure out what was inside. At a loss, she started pulling the lid off of it, until her brother stopped her.

"Ah, ah, ah, you know the rules," he said. "You have to make as least one guess before you open it."

"A car," she deadpanned. "You got me a car." Satisfied, Priestly nodded, so Serena lifted the lid. All she saw then was tissue paper. Pulling it away, she saw nothing at first, but then she realized that at the bottom of the box was a piece of paper, face down. She picked it up and flipped it over. There was a note on it in Priestly's handwriting.

 _I know you always wanted a cat, and I'm pretty sure nothing's changed. Tish and I are both cool with having one in the house. We'll go pick one up sometime soon. You get to pick it out._

"Thank you!" she said. "I can't believe you remembered! This is awesome!" She gave her brother a hug.

"Wait, what is it?" asked Jen.

"It's a cat! He's letting me pick out a cat," Serena said.

"That's so cool," Piper said.

"I know!" Serena said enthusiastically.

"I got you one more thing," Priestly said, handing her a bag.

"A new shirt," Serena guessed. She really didn't think it was a shirt, but she had nothing to go off of. She hadn't even made a list. She just wanted to say something so Priestly wouldn't nag her. She quickly did away with the tissue paper and reached inside, finding a movie. She looked at the cover and smiled for the millionth time that day. "Ghostbusters," she said. "Thanks. Priestly."

"You're welcome. I'm glad you like it. I wasn't sure what to get you. I wanted this to be a complete surprise so I didn't want to just straight up ask you. So I just thought about what I knew about you, and I knew you wanted a cat and Ghostbusters is basically our movie, and we didn't have a copy of it here, so—"

"Priestly," Serena interrupted.

"What?" he asked.

"Shut up. Now, what's next?"

"This is from all us girls," said Tish, handing Serena a small, wrapped up box with a card attached.

"Thanks," Serena said. She went for the card first. It was handmade. It looked like Piper had done the art. On the front was the ocean. The waves, of course, looked pretty real. Serena was pretty sure she was hanging this up in her room. When she opened it, she found three separate notes.

 _Hey birthday girl. I hope we were successful in making this one of the best days you've had in a while. Thanks for being the great friend I've come to know you as. -Piper_

 _Serena, I just want you to know I am so glad you came to Santa Cruz, however it happened. You're an amazing person and I'm so glad I've had the chance to get to know you. I'm here if you ever need anything, even if it's three in the morning. -Tish_

 _Dear Serena, happy birthday! I hope it's been a great, just like you. You're one of the most fantastic people I've met and I don't think you realize it, so I thought I'd tell you. -Jen_

"Thanks, guys," Serena said.

"Well, go on," Priestly said. "Open it. I want to know what it is."

"You mean you don't know?" Serena asked.

"No. Tish wouldn't tell me," Priestly complained.

"Alright," Serena said. She began pulling the paper away to reveal a box covered in black velvet. Smiling, suspecting what it might be, Serena lifted the lid of the box. Inside was a necklace. It was a silver chain with her birth stone on it. Sterling silver, she noted. It was beautiful in its simplicity. "Thank you all so much," she said. She gave all three of them a hug.

Now there was one gift left. Trucker picked it up and handed it to Serena. "This one's from me. I was going to give it to you at work tomorrow, but when I realized I was going to be able to be here tonight I decided to go ahead and give it to you. It's not much, but I hope you'll like it," he said.

Serena smiled at him. "I'm sure I'll like it," she said. Trucker's gift was in a bag. After removing the tissue paper (tissue paper was on the verge of getting on her nerves), Serena lifted out a camera.

"I remembered hearing you make several comments about how you liked photography, but didn't have a good camera, so I took the liberty of getting one for you. It's instant, so it gives you the pictures immediately. There's no editing, but I've heard you prefer that, and you don't have to take the film to get it developed," Trucker explained.

"It's awesome," Serena said, already planning what she might do with it.

"Now, how about that cake?" Priestly asked.

"Pizza first," Tish said, putting a pout on Priestly's face.

* * *

 _ **AN: Next chapter up in maybe an hour.**_


	3. Unpleasant Surprise

_**AN: Well, I intend on this one being the last chapter. Enjoy, as always.**_

* * *

Serena wore the necklace she'd gotten almost every day since her birthday. She'd picked out a black and white kitten at a shelter the day after her birthday, and she had already taken countless photos with the camera from Trucker. She hadn't had a chance to watch Ghostbusters yet in the month after her birthday, but she was planning to change that as soon as possible. All in all, life was pretty tame for her now. She didn't freak out about things as much, and she'd only had one nightmare since moving in with her brother. That, of course, had been an interesting night.

* * *

 _Serena was walking back to her car when hands came from behind her and pinned her arms to her side, dragging her down into some unknown abyss. She tried to look around and see who had grabbed her, but there was no one there. She couldn't see a thing. All she knew were the hands that imprisoned her. Suddenly she was paralyzed, and the hands left her for a moment, but the two were soon replaced by at least ten, and they were all over her. Her breath was stolen from her. And then something was going inside her, and all she wanted was for her brother to come and stop it all._

" _NO!... Stop!... Priestly…" The words woke Tish up. She looked at the clock to see it was 3 in the morning. She looked over to Priestly's side of the bed to see he wasn't in bed. There was a note on this pillow, though._ I couldn't sleep, and I didn't want to wake you. I went for a walk. If I'm still gone when you wake up, don't worry unless it's after 7. Love you, Priestly. _Almost annoyed at her boyfriend, but not quite, Tish made her way across the hall to check on Serena. If it was just a nightmare, which she was pretty sure it was, she could handle it. If it wasn't, and there was a serious problem, Tish wasn't sure what she would do. As she opened the door to Serena's room, there was another call to Priestly, thought this one was quieter. Tish knew now it was a nightmare, and she wondered if she should tell Priestly about it later. He might feel guilty about not being present when his sister was calling for him. Tish decided Serena could decide._

" _Serena," she said a little loudly, trying to awaken the other girl. "It's alright. It's just a dream. Wake up." There wasn't much of a response, so Tish took Serena's shoulders and shook them. That managed to wake Serena up. She gasped as she sat up, and it was then that Tish realized how sweaty the younger girl was._

" _Tish," she said after surveying the room and letting her eyes rest on those of her brother's girlfriend. "Did I wake you up?"_

" _Don't worry about it," Tish said. "I'm guessing that was a nightmare?"_

" _Yeah, just a little," said Serena. "I'm fine, though. Where's Priestly?"_

" _I don't know. I woke up and found a note on his pillow. Something about he couldn't sleep so he went for a walk." As if their discussion had summoned him, they heard the door unlock and the familiar sound of Priestly's footsteps. Before he got to the room, Tish asked Serena, "Do you want to talk about it or anything?"_

" _No, but a hug wouldn't be awful right now," said Serena. Tish smiled before leaning towards the girl and embracing her. That, of course, was the scene Priestly walked in on._

" _Is anything wrong?" he asked the two of them._

" _No," said Serena. "I just had a nightmare is all. No big deal."_

 _Priestly took in his sister's appearance from her pale face to her hair, which was plastered to her forehead by sweat. "You sure you're ok?"_

" _Yeah. Let's just all go back to sleep."_

Serena had come so close to telling Tish everything that night, but she had backed down. She wasn't ready yet.

* * *

The opening of the door pulled Serena out of her thoughts. She looked up at the customer. She didn't recognize him, despite the feeling she had that she'd met him somewhere before, so she carried about her business at the grill. Whenever Priestly left on break, Serena filled in for him, and of course he was on break now. "What can I get for you?" she heard Tish ask.

"I'll take a ten inch turkey," said a voice that Serena would know anywhere. Her grip on the spatula she'd been using turned her knuckles white. They matched her face now. For a long moment, Serena couldn't move. Why did her brother have to choose this moment to go on break? He couldn't have waited five more minutes, could he? Sure, Serena felt like she was pretty safe with the people who were currently around her, but they didn't know what Priestly knew, and it wasn't like she could explain why they couldn't let the guy get near her while he was in the grill. So Serena went on about her work and made the ten-inch-turkey that had been requested.

Once she was done, she glanced around her. Tish was on the phone with a customer, Trucker was at a booth working on figures and numbers and stuff Serena had never tried to understand. Piper was doing inventory in the back, and Jen was doing something at the computer. That left Serena to hand the guy – who had raped her – his sandwich. She met his eyes, and saw recognition in them. He knew who she was. Now it was a question of whether this was a coincidence, or he had come looking for her for a repeat performance. _Well, at least I don't have to worry about getting pregnant again,_ Serena though bitterly. She walked forward and held the sub out to the guy. She kept her hand on the end of it closest to her, but their fingers still brushed, and Serena flinched. "Don't touch me," she muttered.

With a smirk, the guy reached out and grabbed her wrist before she could pull away. "I think we both know I can touch you if I want to, because you can't stop me," he said, low enough that only Serena could hear.

Tish had gotten off the phone now, and Jen and Trucker had both taken notice of what was happening. Only Piper, who was in the back room, was oblivious of what was going on. "Let go of me," Serena said, feeling like she might panic. She didn't like the grip the man had on her, and she liked even less the look in his eyes. To her distress, the hand around her wrist tightened and began to twist, and there was a loud pop that everyone heard and Serena felt.

Trucker was on his feet in seconds. "The lady said let go," he said in a gruff voice.

"What are you going to do about it?" asked the creep.

Trucker's answer was punching the guy square on the jaw. His surprise caused him to let go, and the look in Trucker's eyes coupled with his ready stance made him leave. "Now why didn't I do that?" Serena said. Then she looked down at her wrist, and the calmness she had briefly felt left her. There were handprint bruises on her, the kind she hadn't seen since—

"Serena?" Tish asked, stepping towards the other girl. She saw the shaking in her body, and apparently knew, somehow, that this might be serious. Piper had stepped out of the back room and was looking around in concern, wondering what she'd missed. Serena heard Tish say her name, and she just felt like it was lifeline for her to cling to, for whatever reason, so she went to Tish, who gladly offered the comfort Serena was obviously searching for. Serena's wrist hurt, and she couldn't move it, but she still wrapped both arms around Tish, who did the same and led her over to sit beside her at one of the booths.

No one said anything. They all knew that they wouldn't get an answer out of Serena at the moment. Trucker did step outside to call Priestly, though. "Hello?" Priestly answered.

"Where are you?" Trucker asked.

"I was just about to head back. I'm about four blocks over. Why?"

"You need to get back now," Trucker said. "Something happened. I'm not really sure what, but your sister's real upset. I'm pretty sure she needs you."

"Be there in five," Priestly said. When he got there, he saw that the grill was closed for the night. It was early, but it was also a Sunday at 5:00 in the evening, so it wouldn't matter. Tish was sitting with her arm around Serena, who looked like she'd just finished crying, and Trucker was sitting across from them, examining Serena's wrist. "What's going on?" he asked.

"Priestly," Serena said, turning her attention from her wrist to her brother. Tish stood up, allowing Priestly to take her place at his sister's side. Priestly wrapped an arm around his sister's shoulders, and she leaned into him.

"I think this might call for a trip to the emergency room," Trucker said. "I know first aid, and I know enough to tell you that this is broken, but a real doctor can fix you up a lot better than I can right now."

"What happened?" Priestly asked.

Serena looked at her brother and decided that she would tell him, but not so anyone else could hear. "The guy who raped me was here," she whispered. "I recognized him by his voice, and now I know his face. Everyone else was busy, so I had to hand him his sandwich. He touched my hand when he took his sandwich. I told him not to touch me. He said he could if he wanted to and he grabbed my wrist. I told him to let go and he broke it. Then Trucker punched him and he left."

"Alright, I'm gonna make a quick call to the police, and then we're gonna get you to the emergency room," Priestly said. "Did this guy use a credit card?" he asked.

"Yeah, I can get his name if you want," said Tish.

"Yeah, do that," Priestly said. Apparently the guy's name was Colby Jackson. "I'll be right back," Priestly said. "Don't go anywhere." He stepped out back and phoned the police, putting in an anonymous tip that Colby Jackson was their guy in the Serena Priestly case and that he was in Santa Cruz. After his 5 minute call, Priestly went back inside and, after getting permission to borrow the cosmobile, drove over to the hospital. To both his and Serena's pleasant surprise, it only took one hour to get out of the hospital with a cast on Serena's right wrist and instructions to go easy on it for a while.

When the pair got back to the grill to return the cosmobile, they found that no one had left, although the open sign had not been put back up. "What's everybody waiting for?" asked Priestly after he and Serena decided to go inside.

"You two," said Tish. "We wanted to make sure everything was ok."

"Yeah," Serena said. "All good. Just a break. It'll be fine soon enough. Listen, there's something I think you should all know, something I've been thinking about telling you all for a while now. If it's ok with Tish and Priestly, why don't we head over to our apartment and we can talk?"

"Fine with me," said Tish.

"Yeah, as long as you're sure," Priestly said.

* * *

Thirty minutes later, they were all at the apartment. Serena was sitting beside Priestly on the couch, with Boaz – her cat – in her lap. Priestly hadn't been thrilled at the choice in name for the animal. The rest of the people were gathered around, sitting on whatever available flat surfaces. Once they had all eaten a slice of leftover pizza, Serena began her story.

"Priestly's the only one who knows about this," she said, "but I think I'm finally ok with telling you guys. As you may or may not know, as soon as I got out of high school I left home for college. I have an eidetic memory, so I got a full-ride scholarship. Then, in my second year, the first semester, I got attacked on the way to my car. I was knocked out. I woke up in an alley and realized this guy was raping me. I never saw his face, but he was pretty vocal, so I clearly remembered his voice. He had this knife, so I was afraid to fight him."

Serena looked over at Tish. "That scar you saw on my back that day when we went to the beach – it was from him. I have another one on my chest and on one of my hips. Anyway, I blacked out again and woke up in the hospital. Apparently my roommate convinced the police something was wrong, and they found me. After I got out of the hospital I went back to class, but my grades suffered a little because I wasn't completely focused.

"Some time later, I went to the doctor and found out I was pregnant. I knew, of course, whose it was. Well, sort of. I mean, they weren't able to catch the guy or anything. I guess I kinda decided this was a good thing coming from a bad thing, and I actually planned to keep the baby, but then a little while later I was in a car wreck and I lost the baby – and my car. My grades at this point just dropped and I lost my scholarship, and that's pretty much how I ended up here. The reason I didn't know Priestly was here, though, was because my family decided to abandon him once he turned 18, and they dragged me along with them.

"Anyway, that guy in the grill earlier today was the guy who raped me. I recognized his voice. So that's why I reacted the way I did. And Tish, that nightmare I had, it was about this. So yeah, now you know."

To Serena's relief, the only difference she could tell in how her coworkers treated her after that was that they were more supportive and maybe a little more protective.

* * *

 _ **AN: So, I know the ending was kind of crappy, but I suck at endings. If anyone wants anything added, let me know. Otherwise, this is it. And just on a side note, to all you Ten Inch Hero fans, if you ever feel like maybe you can sympathize with Jen as far as how she views herself, listen to the song "Try" by Colbie Caillat. I know I can understand Jen's feelings and this song kind of lit up my world after I listened to it, and watch the video on Youtube. It's good.**_


End file.
